Rising Darkness
by Csparks
Summary: The main Hunger Games characters wash up at Camp Half-Blood and Katniss is proved to be the only daughter of Artemis and Rue the daughter of Gaea. they're sent on a quest to stop a rising darkness in the world and preserve life as we know it. (OOCness may occur but I'll try to keep the characters pretty real. many will be resurrected. Relationships between tributes will be better:)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Rue's POV

The sea breeze that brushed Rue's face was pleasant, and the rock of the boat was relaxing…but not everybody thought so.

"Ugh…when…urgh…is this thing…going to stop tilting?" groaned Clove, grabbing the handrail. Her face was tinged with green.

"Shouldn't be much longer," her boyfriend Cato said from the wheel.

"Where's Katniss?" Rue's best friend, Prim, asked from her deck chair beside Rue.

"Below decks," Johanna replied. She gave a wicked grin. "With Peeta."

"Ugh." Prim made a face. "I won't check in."

"Where's Thresh?" Rue asked. Thresh was Rue's cousin and after escaping the Hunger Games, he'd stuck to her side like glue for the first couple of days. Clove shrugged, but voice behind Prim said, "He's below decks, working on the engine."

Rue whirled to face Finch, whom Katniss had nicknamed Foxface.

"Guys, land ho!" yelled Cato.

"Don't swear in front of the children!" Johanna exclaimed with mock horror.

Cato scowled. "That's what you're supposed to say on a boat," he said.

Clove straightened and yelled abruptly, "Not it!"

Catching on quickly, Rue and Prim both yelled, "Not it!" Cato, Johanna, and Finch looked at them as if they'd gone mad.

"Not what?" asked Finch.

" _We're_ not going to get Katniss and Peeta," Rue explained.

After that, a chorus of 'not it's' burst from the rest of them, but in the end, Cato lost out and went to retrieve Katniss and Peeta.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

 **Clove's POV**

"Ah, sweet land!" I sprang off the boat, a new energy suddenly present in my limbs. Immediately, I surveyed my surroundings. We had banked at the base of a hill that appeared to lead to…nothing. I saw nothing. Just a tree that had a bunch of wires coiled around it for some reason.

Shrugging, I checked the others. Thresh, Cato, Katniss, Rue, Peeta, and I were all still in our Hunger Games outfits, but somehow, Prim, Finch, and Johanna had managed to snag new outfits.

Prim was wearing a green dress, and her blond hair fell in curls down her back. Finch had her shoulder length red hair up in a high ponytail and was wearing a blue t-shirt, dark wash skinny jeans, and silver flats. Johanna was wearing a ripped black tank top, a black leather jacket, a short leather skirt, and tall black combat boots. Her newly red streaked brown hair was in a ponytail, and I wondered how she didn't roast in that jacket.

That pretty much clues you in on the fashion conscious people in our group-Finch and Johanna had dropped in and stolen some clothes from the Capitol. Prim came wearing her green dress. Rue enjoys looking good, too, but she wasn't they robbed the Capitol(and actually managed to find half decent outfits).

Thresh still sort of scared me. I mean, sure, I'm nimble, I'm fast, I'm strong, but he could still crush me like a bug. I shook my head. My mind was still in Hunger Games mode. The days when Thresh would try to kill me-would have any reason to kill me-were over. We were free. If only I could remember that.

Once we were all off, Katniss took charge. She proposed that we climb to the top of the hill to get a view of else. I figured it was probably as good as any other plan, so I nodded at Cato when he glanced at me. It was safe. No need to be starting unnecessary fights.

A/N: I know that I switched the way I was narrating in the middle of the story but I felt that certain narrative styles were better suited to certain characters so, get ready for a lot of that! Thanks to those of you who reviewed, I appreciate the constructive criticism! R&R!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Cato's POV

Cato was near the front, his arm around Clove, whose hand was on Rue's shoulder. They all loved the younger kids but it was no secret that Clove liked Rue best. He did, too. Rue was adorable, and while she seemed to need protection, she could also hold her own in a fight. As a former citizen of District Two, Cato could appreciate that.

They finally reached the top of the hill, and just as Prim was about to slum against the tree, she turned, yelping in surprise. Clove gasped as well. The coiled wires at the base of the tree, weren't wires. There was a dragon at the base of the tree!

"Oh my gosh," Katniss breathed, looking up. "Guys, look!"

We al did, and then took a step back. There was a huge banner. A banner! How could we not have noticed it?!

"Camp Half Blood," Rue read aloud.

"What's that?" Johanna asked.

"Let's explore it!" Prim exclaimed.

Cato, Clove, Thresh, and Johanna exchanged glances. That didn't sound smart.

But Katniss replied, "Sure. Let's check it out." With Katniss leading the way, and Prim bouncing along behind her, the rest of the kids stepped warily under the sign.

A/N: Hope you liked it! In the next chapter I will bring in some familiar characters in the next chapter but just hang tight until then! Don't forget to R&T!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

 **Prim's POV**

We're met immediately by a bustling camp scene. At least, I'm pretty sure this is what a camp would look like. But this is a mega camp. There are acres of strawberry fields, a large mess hall type place, and thousands of cabins arranged in a semicircle, all with symbols on the doors.

The other kids are uneasy. Katniss clutches her bow, Rue fingers her slingshot, and I can tell by the way Clove's hand is in her jacket that she's clutching knife.

As we're looking around, surveying the scene, a tanned blond girl wearing an orange shirt reading Camp Half Blood and denim shorts and a boy with black hair andsea green eyes wearing the same thing with black sports shorts run up to us.

Katniss's grip on her bow tightens and Clove whips out a deadly looking knife. Cato's knuckles are white on his sword hilt, and I'm ready to break out the hand to hand combat moves Katniss taught me.

But the kids, who seem about 17 or so, have easy smiles, thought the girls gray eyes seem to be in a thousand different places as she says, "Hi, I'm Annabeth. This is Percy, and if you don't know already, you're all demigods."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

 **Annabeth's POV**

These kids are fighters, I can tell. I see it in the way they hold themselves, the way they hold their weapons, the fire in their eyes. Even the younger ones look prepared to kill if they have to. I'm not sure if I respect or fear that.

Scanning them, I pick up on the small brown skinned girl standing tensely against a dark haired girl, whose knife glistens in her hand, and then…woah. Right next to the dark haired girl, his hand on the hilt of his sword, is a giant. I look behind him. Make that two giants. They both stand about 6'5, and the one next the girl with the knife has blond hair and calculating icy blue eyes. He reminds me of Luke, but…much more muscular. The other one has dark brown skin and eyes that glisten with flames of rebellion. Then, another dark haired girl, this one holding a bow. She stands protectively over a small, blond haired girl, and next to a taller, blond boy. A little ways off from them are a girl with a girl with brown hair and a tattered tank top, and another one with red hair in a blue shirt. The brown haired girl's eyes light with fire and the red head is subtly scanning for escape routes.

They scare me. I've never seen anyone or anything quite like them…they project such a thick aura of strength, power, and confidence that it's hard not to choke on. They look like they've been in flight or fight situations and chosen the latter. They look like they've been in kill or be killed situations and killed willingly, to protect themselves or those they love. They look like hardened warriors, not the scared, timid souls that usually arrive at Camp Half Blood. Yes, they scare me. But I can't let them know that.

"Hi, I'm Annabeth!" I say, trying to sound bright and sunny. "This is Percy, and if you don't already know, you're all demigods."

I knew they were. And powerful ones, too. They looked like they'd already been chased by monsters, so I was surprised when they all stared at me like I was speaking gibberish.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

 **Finch's POV**

 **"** Demi-what?" I whispered to Johanna.

"I have no idea," Johanna whispered back. "Just play along!"

"Excuse me?" asked Katniss.

"You're demigods," repeated the boy, Percy.

"And what exactly is a demigod?" Katniss asked, her grip on her bow tightening ever so slightly.

It means"-Percy began. And that was when Katniss's hair caught on fire.

 **Katniss's POV**

Just as this guy, Percy, as finally about to tell me what a 'demigod' was, Prim whirled around, pointed at me, and yelled, "Katniss, your hair's on fire!"

"What?!" I looked up and almost screamed. There, hovering over my head, was a crescent moon symbol, glowing orange. I realized that I didn't actually feel any heat, so whatever it was wasn't burning me.

Then, looking around, I saw all my friends had symbols above their heads too. Thresh had a flaming hammer above his head, Cato and Johanna both had spears, Peeta got a corn stalk, Finch had an owl, and Prim had a bow glowing above her head. The only ones without glowing symbols were Clove and Rue. I glanced at the other kids, Percy and Annabeth, for a clue on why this was happening, but Annabeth's mouth was hanging wide open.

I stepped forward. "What is this?" I demanded, pointing to the moon symbol hovering over my head.

Annabeth just stared at me. "You're…you're the daughter of Artemis," she said.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: So, sorry, I've been on vacation so my writing may be a little rusty, but I'll probably get my skills back soon. Thanks so much to those of you who review, it makes me super happy!**

Chapter Eight

 **Clove's POV**

It was after dinner, and we were sitting around the campfire. Turns out, Katniss is the one and only daughter of Artemis. Woop-de-doo. Apparently, Artemis isn't supposed to have children. Scandalous! But, I seriously don't care about Katniss. Also, Cato is the son of Ares. So is Johanna. Which would make them…godly siblings? I'm still working out the terminology and stuff.

However, it seems like everyone here has a godly parent-besides from me and Rue. I met a cool girl named Reyna who had two metal dogs named Aurum and Argentrum. She's supposedly the daughter of the Roman war goddess, Bellona. I asked what a Roman demigod was doing in a Greek camp, and she got a kind of sad look on her face and said, "Sometimes I ask myself the same question."

Frankly, I don't buy into all this Ancient Greek gods/goddesses stuff. I'll happily take the food and safety, but until an Olympian comes down here to camp, I won't believe it.

Just then, the fire roared higher, and turned crimson. When it died down again, a woman in a red dress was standing there. Her skin was unnaturally white. Her long, black hair had subtle red streaks. A golden necklace covered her whole neck. She looked like Snow White's evil twin.

When she appeared, most of the campers gasped and drew back. Annabeth, Blondie, stepped forward. "Eris, what are you doing here?" she asked. "You are not wanted."

Eris flicked her hand and Annabeth was shot back into her seat. "Stand down, puny demigod," she snarled. "I come to claim my daughter."

She then strolled in intimidating style through the rows of demigods, until she reached mine. Her eyes lit on me and my blood ran cold. No. This woman couldn't be my…

 **"Rise, Clove!" Eris called. I stood slowly, slowly, and Eris grinned. "Clove," she said, "Daughter."**

 **A/N: For those of you who might not know, Eris is the Greek goddess of discord, witchcraft, and scary things. She doesn't come up much in the Percy Jackson series. Or at all. I wouldn't even know about her if I didn't devour thousands of books, but she seemed suitable for Clove's godly parent. Thanks for reading! R &R! **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

 **Reyna's POV**

I don't believe I've ever felt as sorry for someone as I did for Clove when Eris claimed her. Her face became paler, and paler, and paler, and fear flashed in her eyes before she finally managed to get hold on her emotions. Her face set in stone, she stood with mock confidence and strode through the rows of demigods towards Eris. When she was face to face with the goddess, Clove looked into her eyes, churning voids of red and black, and uttered one word: "Mother."

 **Clove's POV**

Okay. Did I ask for a god to come up to camp? Yes. I do remember thinking something of that sort. Well, that question has been resigned. I would really like to. Because, one second I'm thinking "just any old Olympian" and the next I'm staring into the eyes of a madwoman who seems to be my mother. And the most awful thing? I feel it too. We're connected. So, when she clasps her icy hands against mine, I listen closely, because, supposedly, mother knows best; I wouldn't know.

"Clove," she whispers. "I've waited so long for this moment."

I stare down at her hands on mine. "For what?" I manage. Her presence here is making all kind of emotions boil inside me: hate, anger, fear, rage, and…darkness. The darkness is the most frightening. Does the darkness stand for something? Is the darkness me?

Questions without answers infuriate me, and before this…before her…before camp…I never used to have to ask them. Now, they swirl around in my head like thunder clouds bumping into me. Angrily, I pull my hands from hers. "You know what?" I yell at her. "I don't care why! You're not my mother! You're just some random lady who showed up out of the middle of nowhere! You're just…"

Eris clenches her fist and I find myself unable to make any more words. Anger boils inside me, with no outlet this time. "Clove, darling, you must learn to control that temper," Eris said chidingly, drawing me closer to her. "Now, let me go on. I've waited for this moment, because this is the moment that I can finally give some of me…to you."

I shake and struggle to break free, but find my willpower rapidly dwindling. Another surge of anger. That's probably because of her, too.

"See, Clovie dear, it's hard controlling all this darkness, all the time," Eris went on. "And so, as a…" she skimmed her eyes over me. "…Rather late birthday present, I present to you…" she conjured up a ball of glowing yellow light. I'm hypnotized by it. "All you have to do is take it," Eris said temptingly. "All the power…"

"No!" Rue cried. I whipped around, and the spell Eris had put on me was broken. "No!" Rue yelled again. Then she stomped her foot, and the earth cracked.

 **A/N: And there's the latest update! Hope you liked it, and big thanks to those of you who send in reviews! R &R! Bye for now! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Johanna's POV

When Rue stomps her foot, the whole camp falls silent. Even the Aphrodite girls, and from what I can tell, they never shut up. Probably because when she stamps her foot, the earth cracks to accompany it. This should not be possible. Unless our little Rue is suddenly super strong or…

A glowing symbol appears over her head. But hers isn't orange. It's a glowing green picture of the earth. The earth shakes, and then the crack widens. It widens and widens and then dirt swirls up out of it. And then there's a woman. A woman in a green dress, with ocean type accents on the sleeves. Her skin is the color of slightly burnt grass, complete with green tinge, and her hair is the color of rich black soil. She would be beautiful, if it weren't for her eyes. Or rather, lack thereof. Where eyes should be, the woman has two black voids, that circle and circle continuously.

"My child," she hisses softly, moving towards Rue. A girl with light brown skin and choppy brown hair from the Aphrodite cabin shoots to her feet. "Gaea!" she exclaims. "You're not welcome here! Why have you returned? Go back to sleep."

Something happens to her voice on that last part, something that fills me with the desire to lay down and take a nice long nap. What would it hurt? It actually makes a lot of sense…

"Relax!" the woman hisses. "You have vanquished me! I am but a shell of my former self! I have merely come to claim my child!"

Poor Rue is shivering and trembling and all kinds of mess as the woman approaches her. When she stands four feet away, Rue asks, managing to keep her voice steady, "Are you evil?"

"Well, it all depends on your perspective," the woman, Gaea, says with a small smile. "To some I am a terrible enemy." She smiled. "But not to my children." She bends down. "Listen Rue, and listen well. My time here is limited…I must go back to sleep now. But you have extrodinary powers…if used correctly, they could save or destroy the world. Make the right choice, my daughter." From most parents, that would sound encouraging, but this woman obviously had a completely different idea of 'the right choice.' With that, she vanished back into the earth, and the crack Rue's foot had made healed up. However, the branches of the trees around us whipped toward her, and while Rue was in her state of shock, my eyes flicked toward Clove…just in time to see Eris whip Clove's chin toward her face, thrust the ball of light into her hands, and vanish in a puff of blood red light.

Then, because gods know that's just not enough weirdness for one night, a girl with wild red curls stands up on a stool. Her eyes light with a glowing green light, and she recites:

 _The first quest to include thirteen,_

 _Shall sail when the north moon glows_

 _green,_

 _When the daughters of darkness and of_

 _Earth,_

 _Must bring the darkness to the_

 _Olympians hearth,_

 _But if darkness is not contained,_

 _All strife, discord, and war shall reign,_

 _And then a girl with great foresight,_

 _Must bring us all back into light._

As she was reciting her creepy poem, two guys had come up behind her-evidently this has happened before-because as soon as she finishes, her eyes roll back in her head and she faints, right into the two guys arms.

I exchange glances with Cato. Clove and Rue exchange glances as well, and then run off in opposite directions. Clove runs back toward camp, while Rue runs straight into the forest.

"Wait!" a boy with blond hair and a bow on his back shoots off of his bench. "No one's supposed to go into the forest at night!"

Annabeth slumps on the bench. "She'll be fine, Will," she says. "She's the daughter of the Earth itself. She has great powers."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Rue's POV

Rue ran into the forest, and kept on running for a long stretch of time. She felt terrible. She'd only been at camp for a few hours, but even she had heard about the war seven demigods, including Percy and Annabeth, had just finished fighting with Gaea. Gaea. The earth goddess, and her mother. Rue ran harder, as if running hard enough would make her troubles cease to exist. When she fully realized that she was so far into the forest that she couldn't see the beginning or the end, she stopped and scampered up the nearest tree, where she rested. Rue went back over the claiming in her head. Clove's first. That horrible woman-an Olympian goddess. Her name was Eris, and the campers didn't seem to like her very much. Then again, why would they? She had claimed to be the goddess of darkness herself. Rue stomped her foot, and then…she squeezed her eyes shut, as if that would make the memory fade…then that women had stepped out. And then she'd said Rue was her daughter. And then the prophecy had come. And then Rue had run. But even though she'd run quickly after, she'd seen the looks on everyone's faces-that no one would come after her, that she was a monster in their eyes. Rue felt anger surge inside her, and she spread her hands. The ground began to rumble, and then to crumble beneath the tree she sat in and all around. She immediately clenched her fist, and the cracks mended as if nothing had ever happened there. Rue wondered if she could control trees. They were plants, and technically a part of the Earth too, after all. Concentrating on the branches of her tree, she spread her hands. The branches expanded, and leaves grew to cushion them. Soon Rue had a nice little nest of leaves in the tree, cushioned all around by leaves. Looking up into the dark sky, she thought to herself that she could probably survive in the forest by herself…who needed camp? Thecertainly didn't need her. With notions and ideas of running off into the forest forever to live there, she nodded off to sleep.

When Rue woke up, the first thing her groggy mind registered was a movement in the shadows under her tree. Her mind kicked into Hunger Games mode. Who was this stranger? Did he mean her harm? She should probably kill him anyway. She felt around for her slingshot and found it, along with one of the rocks she always kept there. Alert, she knelt in the tree and pulled back the slingshot. She squinted to try to get a better view of the boy below, who seemed almost to meld with the shadows. Then she pulled back her slingshot, squinted, and shot.

"Ow!" came a voice from below. Rue blinked. Then blinked again. Slowly, it came back to her. She wasn't in the Hunger Games. She was at camp. She was the daughter of a monstrous earth goddess. _Oh joy,_ she thought. _The only options in my life are good, obviously._ Then she remembered the boy below. She leaned over the top of her tree. "Sorry!" she called. "Are you okay?"

The boy looked up, squinting into darkness. "Who are you?"

Rue guessed everyone at the camp probably knew her name by now, and she might give herself away at any moment by causing an earth quake, so she called down, "Rue," instead of trying to make something up.

The boy nodded. "Oh, you're the girl that ran off into the forest. Nobody's supposed to come in here, you know."

"Really?" Rue called back. "Then why are you here?"

The boy shrugged. "No one really cares if I break the rules. Besides, I like to visit my sister."

Rue cocked her head. "Well, unless your sister is a nymph or a tree, I don't think you'll find her here."

The boy shook his head. "No, I know I will. I'll show her to you. If you come down."

Rue was hesitant. "Is she a monster?"

The boy snorted. "I swear on the River Styx she's not anything that'll hurt you."

"What's the River Styx?" Rue asked.

"Let's just say I can't break that promise," the boy replied.

Rue slipped down the tree, reminding herself the whole time that if anything went wrong, she could always make the ground fall out from under his feet. But instead of walking over to him, she leaned against the tree trunk.

"So, you heard about me," she said.

The boy nodded. "And you heard about my…heritage," she added.

The boy nodded. "Yeah. Daughter of Gaea, right?"

Rue nodded uneasily. "And…you're not trying to kill me?"

"Not yet," the boy replied. With that, he turned and walked into the trees. Not knowing what else to do, Rue followed him. Through trees, and trees, and more trees, until they came to a clearing. The only thing there was a plaque of obsidian in the ground. The boy walked around it. "This," he said, pointing, "Is my sister."

Rue walked closer to it. The moon shined down on the clearing, and she could read it: In Honor of the Late Bianca Di Angelo. Rue turned towards the boy. In the moonlight, she could make out his features more clearly. He had pale skin and black hair that hung into his eyes. By his side hung a scary looking pure black sword. "I'm sorry," she said.

The boy shrugged. "I used to be pretty messed up about it…try to bring her back and stuff. Eventually I learned it wasn't going to work, and she's reborn now anyway."

Rue couldn't really understand half of what he said, but she got the feeling that listening was more of the important part here. She nodded to herself.

"Are you a demigod?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. Son of Hades."

Rue cocked her head. "Who's that? Sorry, I'm kind of new here."

The boy shrugged. "God of death and the underworld." Rue nodded. He looked up. "Why aren't you running away from me?"

Rue shrugged. "Same reason you didn't run away from me, I guess," she said. "Plus, I'm too tired to do anymore running." She dropped to the ground and then scooted back. "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I sitting on her?"

The boy shook his head. "No, she's not buried here."

"So, what's your name?" Rue asked.

The boy cocked his head. "Nico Di Angelo."

 **A/N: sorry about the lack of excitement in this chapter. I'm afraid there won't be that much in the next chapter either, so if you want, you can skip it, but don't worry, after that, questing will start! R &R! Thanks!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hiya! Nice to see you guys again! And, I just realized I haven't done a disclaimer. So…**

 **Annabeth: Csparks doesn't own the Percy Jackson Books**

 **Prim: Or any of the Hunger Games**

 **Me: So, yeah.**

 **Chapter Eleven**

Clove's POV

Clove ran off to the camps gardens. Strawberry fields, a part of her mind registered vaguely. But she couldn't really care. Because she was busy. Busy thinking. Feeling guilty. Angry. Crestfallen. You name it, she was feeling it. Clove had grown up without her mother, and her father had promised her she never wanted to meet her. But Clove had figured he was just bitter. He'd been right, though. Eris wasn't someone Clove wanted to know. But deeper in her heart was the feeling of guilt for what she'd done. Clove put her head down in her arms and cried. She was shocked and disgusted with herself for it-Clove Carrion, hardened warrior, ex citizen of District Two, ex competitor or the Hunger Games-crying like a little baby over a meet and greet with her mother. Who just so happened to be evil. But then again, that explained so much about her. Clove put her head back down. That was when she heard rustling in the fields behind her. Sitting up, Clove wiped her eyes and drew her knife in the same movement. "Who's there?" she asked fiercely, grateful to her district training not to show weakness in any way.

"It's just me," a voice said. It was Cato. When he came through, he looked Clove up and down. "You okay?" he asked.

Clove felt a fireball swell in her stomach. "What do you think?" she yelled. "I just got claimed by an evil goddess, gifted with darkness, and became the victim of a freaking prophecy! No, I'm not okay!" Clove sank to the ground. "No, I'm not okay," she muttered, more quietly. Cato sat down and wrapped his arms around her. "It's alright," he told her. "You'll be alright."

Clove sighed. "Easy for you to say. You're the son of Ares, one of the normal gods."

"Hey," Cato said. "It probably just seems like a bunch of weird things have been happening since we just got here, but things will calm down." He rocked her for a few moments, and then added, "And if things don't work here, we'll just run away again."

Clove shook her head against his chest. "Who would have thought?" she asked. "You and Johanna are siblings."

"Only by half," Cato replied defensively.

Clove rolled her eyes. "Where is everybody else, anyway?" she asked.

"Well, most of the others are trying to find out more about the camp. Johanna's talking to some guy named Finnick from the Aphrodite cabin that she apparently went to school with or something at some point, the others are trying to find Rue, and Finch is doing what Finch does best-she disappeared."

Clove cracked a smile. "Who's her godly parent supposed to be, again?"

Cato grinned back. "Hermes," he replied. "Greek god of thieves."

"Of course he is," Clove muttered, leaning back against Cato's chest. Then she sat bolt upright. "Wait!" she exclaimed. "Oh my goodness! Rue's still missing? I've been in here for hours!"

"Yeah, and it was no picnic hunting you down either," Cato added. "But…" then he seemed to realize. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "We need to get out of here!"

They navigated their way out of the strawberry field as best they could and then decided to split up. Clove said she needed a couple of minutes alone, and Cato decided to go ahead and talk to the others. As Clove walked slowly towards her fellow Hunger Games frenemies, she noticed Jason and Reyna standing in the shadow of the Zeus cabin, apparently involved in a heated argument. Not really knowing why she did it, Clove tiptoed closer and hid behind a very conveniently located bush…apparently someone had decided Zeus deserved some shrubbery.

"I don't care who you are!" Reyna said. "You have to tell them Rue and Clove are good kids!"

"Reyna, what proof do you have?" Jason asked.

"I've talked to them," Reyna said. "Jason, do you really think that little girl Rue would hurt a fly?"

"I think she'd do a lot worse in the right circumstances," Jason replied. "They're too dangerous."

"Oh, and a son of Zeus isn't dangerous?!" Reyna cried incredulously. "And a son of Poseidon? And a son of Hades? All in the same place, at the same time?! That's not dangerous, but a little girl is?"

"That's different," Jason argued. "Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades are respected gods-Gaea? Everybody knows she's bad news. And what's to say her children aren't too?"

Clove seethed. She was totally ready to bust out from behind that bush and use Jason for target practice, but as she figured that would probably only prove his point, she consented to hold her tongue(and her knives) and allow Reyna to speak on her behalf. Which she did.

"I can't believe you're saying that!" Reyna seethed. "They're demigods, just like you, Jason! You want us to turn them away because they're not decended from the "right" gods?"

"You would have a totally different perspective on this whole issue if we were at Camp Jupiter!" Jason shot back.

Clove peeked out from behind the bush in time to see angry tears come to Reyna's eyes. "You…argh! I'm so done with you, Jason Grace!" She exited the corner, swearing vigorously in Latin, and Jason leaned against the door of the Zeus cabin, looking exhausted.

Clove stood up from behind the bush when he wasn't looking and sidled up next to him. "So," she said casually, "we're too dangerous, huh?"

Jason jumped and then took a half step away from Clove, standing nonchalantly on the doorstep polishing a knife with the bottom of her jacket.

"Where did you come from?" he asked.

"Listen up," Clove said, ignoring him. "Throw me out of camp? Fine. Throw my friends out of camp? Not so fine. Throw Rue out of camp?" She closed in until they were standing nose to nose. "And I will personally see to your death."

She took a step back and shoved her knife back into her jacket. "Right then. That was a nice chat. Hope we can do it again sometime!" With an innocent smile, Clove turned and ran to join her friends next to the forest.

 **Btw, sorry if I made Jason seem super mean. I don't actually think he is, but he's just worried, and it's kind of like the whole 'maybe we should think about saving Nico or not' thing he did in TMoA, so that's why I put that part in. Thx for reading! R &R! **


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 **Katniss POV**

I paced back and forth frantically. "What's in there?!" I demanded of Annabeth. I must have looked really scary because Annabeth took half a step back before drawing herself up and answering, "Monsters, tree nymphs-she'll probably be fine. After all, she had complete control over everything in there."

I sat down. What if something terrible happened to her? It would be my fault-my fault that I wasn't there first, my fault that I couldn't help her. Peeta came over and sat down next to me. "Katniss, it's not your fault," he said, as if reading my mind. "I'm sure Rue's fine." I wanted to believe him, but the worry in his eyes gave him away. I looked toward the fire. "I hope so," I muttered.

Just then, there was a ripple of darkness that spread across the border of the forest, and Rue appeared, holding hands with a pale boy with long black hair. She turned to the boy. "That was fun!" she exclaimed. "Can we do it again?"

The boy smiled weakly and brushed his hair out of his eyes with his other hand. "You're probably the first person to enjoy shadow traveling who was not a son or daughter of Hades."

Rue shrugged. "I'm the first at a lot of things." Then I surged forward and gave her a huge hug. "Rue, sweetie, we were so worried," I whispered. I leaned back to inspect her. She'd lost her jacket and her face was smeared with dirt, but otherwise she looked fine. I hugged her close again.

 **Third Person POV**

Another girl came forward from in the crowd. She had long, cinnamon colored brown hair, brown skin, and eyes that flickered like gold in the firelight. "Nico!" she exclaimed. She drew him into a quick hug and then stepped back. "You look horrible. You should stay over." Nico opened his mouth to protest, but then saw the girl's pleading look and sighed. "Fine, Hazel, I'll stay just tonight, but I'll probably leave tomorrow," he warned.

The girl, Hazel, shrugged. "At least you'll be here," she said, and walked off. Clove approached the boy with Cato next to her. "Did you hurt Rue at all?" Clove asked in a dangerous voice.

"Yeah," added Cato. "You were gone for an awfully long time."

Rue pulled away from Katniss to defend the boy. "No, I ran off," she explained. "I fell asleep in a tree and Nico found me and brought me back." She glanced quickly at the boy, who shoved his hands into the pockets of his aviator jacket.

Just then, Johanna, Finch, and Prim all came back at the same time-from different directions. Johanna came from the cabins, Prim came from campfire, and Finch came from-well, it was impossible to tell where Finch was coming from. She had a habit of just appearing and disappearing whenever she pleased.

"Rue, you're back!" Prim launched herself at her best friend with open arms and the two girls embraced. When Prim pulled away, she studied Nico. "Who's this?" she asked Rue. "Nico Di Angelo, long story that I will tell you later," Rue replied. "Right now I _seriously_ need to hit the hay. I'm soo tired."

"That's right," Annabeth grinned. "You guys will need a place to sleep. Chiron will want to see you guys tomorrow morning, of course, but I can assign temporary spots. Um…Johanna and Cato, you guys should get settled in the Ares cabin. And, Clove, you can camp out there too, until we find a permanent place for you. Clarisse, can you guide them? Thanks. And, Will, would you escort Prim to the Apollo cabin? Thanks, Thresh…"

A guy with wild curly black hair and a mischievous smile sitting on the campfire benches piped up, "Thresh is good. He's in the forges." Annabeth nodded and then said, "Katie, take Peeta to the Demeter cabin. Travis, if you could show Finch to the Hermes cabin, we'd really appreciate it, and Rue…" she tapped her chin with her finger, summing up the little girl. "We'll put you in Hades for tonight." Nodding definitely, she added, "Do your best and get a good night's sleep-tomorrow we'll figure out what to do with you."

"Do with us?" Prim surged forward. "What do you mean, do with us? We're not appliances, we're demigods, just like the rest of you!"

Annabeth smiled, and her tone softened. "Don't worry, Prim, I'm sure it'll be fine-I just said that…for lack of better word. Just get some rest."

"Um…just one thing." Katniss stepped forward. "Why are you separating us?"

Annabeth gave a half smile, though the look in her gray eyes said she was already a thousand miles past the topic in her head. "I know it might seem suspicious that we're dividing you up like this, but we're just sorting you into cabins based on your godly parents-you'll notice that Cato, Johanna, and Clove are all in the same cabin as they have the same godly parents."

"I don't like being away from my sister," Katniss said dubiously.

"Katniss, I can take care of myself," Prim whined. The lanky blond boy beside her-Will-smiled. "Don't worry."

Annabeth smiled at Katniss. "You can step into Prim's cabin and see to it that she's all set up-and make sure there's no danger. But then you'll have to go to your parent's cabin."

Katniss reluctantly agreed, and the kids followed their guides to their cabins, stretching and yawning the whole way. It had been a long night.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

 **Rue's POV**

Rue lay in her bed in the Hades cabin, thinking. Hazel and Nico had hit the hay as well, and Hazel had fallen asleep instantly, after letting Rue know with absolute certainty that she didn't care about Rue's heritage, telling her that she'd done some pretty bad things in her days as well. Rue couldn't tell about Nico, though. She tried thinking about her siblings, but it brought tears to her eyes to think how they were still trapped in District Eleven with no way out. She rolled over, thinking about her own fate. Who was this Chiron person? Would he kick her and her friends out of camp once she heard about the prophecy that had been made for them? Or would he be nice to them like Hazel and Annabeth? She rolled over and closed her eyes. Before she knew it, she was asleep.

…

The next morning, Rue work to a gentle voice saying, "Rue, it's time for breakfast." Rue groggily opened her eyes and was momentarily taken off guard by Hazel's gentle smile and golden eyes. Then she remembered where she was: Hades cabin, at Camp Half Blood. She sat up. "It's breakfast time already?" Hazel grinned. "Kind of hard to believe, isn't it?"

Rue yawned. Then she looked down. She'd gone to sleep in her red t-shirt and jeans from the arena, both of which were filthy. She looked up at Hazel. "Any chance I could get a change of clothes?" she asked.

"Right there," Hazel said, pointing to on orange Camp Half Blood T-shirt and a pair of jean capris. At the foot of the bed were a pair of white Nikes. Rue grinned. "Awesome. Okay if I take a shower?"

"Bathroom's right over there," Hazel answered, pointing. It was then that Rue noticed the empty bunk. "Where's Nico?" she asked.

"He's at breakfast," Hazel replied, shrugging. "I'll wait out here to show you where the dining hall is."

"Thanks," Rue replied gratefully as she grabbed the clothes from off the bed and headed to the bathroom. She showered quickly as not to keep Hazel waiting, but she found a few supplies in the bathroom, such as a plastic wrapped toothbrush for visitors, toothpaste, and a brown hair tie, which she used to pull her curly hair into a ponytail. She walked out of the bathroom and met Hazel, who proceeded to lead her to the Dining Hall.

When Rue entered, she looked for her friends, only to find them spread out at different tables, each with a different logo over it, laughing and talking with other kids. She felt a little overwhelmed until Hazel waved her over to a table on the side of the room. Nico was already there, polishing off some scrambled eggs. He glanced up at their arrival. "You're late," he commented.

"Yeah, I slept in," Rue admitted. She looked down at her empty plate, then around the room. She didn't see any food anywhere. "The plates are magic," Nico told her, as if reading her mind. "They fill with whatever food you imagine."

Rue looked at him dubiously, but Hazel piped up, "It's true. Try it." Hazel looked down at her plate and imagined grits, breakfast potatoes, and strawberries, some of the best fruits they grew in District Eleven but she'd only been able to taste about once in her life. In fact, she'd rarely been able to taste any of the things on her plate, but she'd tasted them in the Capitol and loved them. Amazingly, they appeared on her plate instantly. Rue just sat there for a second, her eyes wide. Then she pounced on the food, afraid that if she didn't get it into her stomach as quickly as possible, it would somehow disappear. Hazel and Nico just watched her. She was done in one minute.

"I take it you don't get much to eat back where you're from," Hazel commented with a small smile.

Rue blushed. "Yeah, you could say that," she said. Just then, the redheaded girl from the night before burst into the room. "Meeting in the Great House!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "All of the Head Councilors, and the new campers from last night!"

Rue stood up uncertainly at the same time Nico did. Rue looked at him. "You're the Head Councilor?"

"Unofficially," he replied. "I'm typically the only person in the Hades cabin-Hazel's just staying here while her camp, Camp Jupiter, gets rebuilt. And I'm not even here all year round-I come and go."

Rue felt a pang of sadness that Hazel wouldn't be staying for long. She really liked her. "Camp Jupiter?" she asked. "There's another demigod camp?"

Nico shook his head. "I'll explain it to you on the way to the Great House."

Annabeth's **POV**

As the head councilor of the Athena cabin, Annabeth was invited to the meeting as well. She was walking with Percy, who was complaining about his new sister Annie. "She's a nice person, but she's super messy and she takes thirty minutes in the shower everyday!" Percy exclaimed. "I'm _always_ late to breakfast because of her!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. She knew Percy was really mad because Poseidon had had a child with another woman besides from his mother and never deemed fit to tell him about it. She'd only crossed paths with Annie a couple of times, but she seemed like a nice, smart girl. She glanced at the new recruits. Cato and Clove kept glancing over their shoulders at Rue, who was lagging behind, talking to Nico. That was odd. Hardly anyone was ever able to actually _maintain_ a conversation with Nico Di Angelo. How had Rue gotten him to warm up so quickly? She shrugged to herself, and turned back to Percy.

"Sorry, what was that?" she asked Percy apologetically. Percy, seeing that she'd been studying the new kids again, switched topics. "Where do you think they came from, anyway?" he asked. "They seem cool...at least Cato does. For a son of Ares."

Annabeth shook her head. She herself had been trying to puzzle it out. They looked like perfectly normal teenagers that day, but the day before… "They looked like they'd been in battles when they came here," she mused. "But I don't think they were attacked by monsters."

"How come?" Percy asked.

Annabeth shrugged. "Well, monsters don't usually give up easily. And they didn't come up out of breath and scared out of their wits, like most of the kids that are chased up here by monsters."

Percy glanced at the group again. "I sort of think it would take a lot to scare those kids."

Annabeth agreed, but she couldn't help the feeling in her gut that the kids hadn't gotten so beat up from a few monsters. It had been something else; something worse.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

 **Finch's POV**

I kept looking back over my shoulder. Prim travelled up with the blond guy, Will, who was her…brother? Finch herself was travelling with the two boys, Travis and Connor, from the Hermes cabin. She already liked the Hermes cabin pretty well. The kids there spent every moment hatching schemes and tricks to play on the other cabins, and stealing from each other. Finch was fine with that-back in District 5, she'd done a lot of stealing herself. She never batted eye at stealing a little something for her family, and she never seemed to get caught. She saw now that that had probably been her father watching out for her. Now she was dressed just like everyone else, in jean shorts and an orange Camp Half Blood shirt with sneakers.

Finch tuned into her brothers' conversation, which had switched from something about shampoo and cheese whiz to winged shoes. "Would that be another prank?" she asked. The boys looked at her. "No," Travis replied. "Our dad wears them, but he gives us the ones he doesn't use anymore," Connor added.

"They're not always in great working order, but we can usually send them over to the Hephaestus cabin," Travis continued.

"They love tinkering with stuff like that."

"And they can usually fix them up about as good as new," Travis went on.

"Cool! Can you use them?" Finch asked.

Travis smirked. "Sure can. They come in pretty handy for pranks, especially when you get the Hecate cabin involved."

At Finch's inquiring look, Conner added, "They can put an invisibility spell on the wings, and since a lot of the shoes are normal sneakers, if we put them in the right place, campers put them on in the morning, and next thing they know they're three feet off the ground."

Finch grinned. "Sounds like a blast." She'd only been at Camp Half Blood one day, and she already loved it. She really hoped they didn't get kicked out.

 **Clove's POV**

Clove liked the Ares cabin-they were aggressive, and they didn't seem to care that she was the daughter of an evil goddess. In fact, they wondered how powerful she was-Eris was Ares' sister, so they didn't hate her as much as most of the other campers. And, of course, she had Cato and Johanna, so that made things better. The head councilor, Clarisse, seemed cool. She had an electric spear called Maimer, and she lent Johanna one of her studded black leather vests to put over her Camp Half Blood tank top. Clove was dressed in a Camp Half Blood tee and shorts with black boots that came up to her calves and a cargo vest for her knives. She'd noticed that the different cabins all had slightly different styles. The Ares cabin was edgier, in leather and combat boots, the Hecate cabin was slightly darker, with black and green makeup, the Hephaestus cabin wore thick boots and welding gloves, and the Aphrodite cabin-ugh-well, their leader, Piper, didn't seem too into the style thing, but Clove had seen them at breakfast, and they styled their t-shirts to the fit the latest fashions and wore _way_ too much makeup. She glanced back at Rue. She was hanging out with her cabin, like most of them, and seemed to be listening deeply to something that the Nico kid was saying. She looked up toward Clove and smiled for a second before turning her attention back to Nico. Clove sighed. Cato, standing next to her, picked up on it and glanced back at Rue.

"She seems fine," he said, confused.

Clove shrugged. "Just making sure," she replied. Honestly, everybody acting so nice and accepting made her a little uneasy. Spending all that time in the arena, constantly on guard, made it hard to adjust to being laid back and trusting other people.

Reyna was there as a Roman representative, and Clove wondered how she was feeling. Her face was an icy mask that betrayed nothing, but Clove figured there must have been a hundred different thoughts swirling around in her head. Then they came to the Great House and Clove caught her breath. It wasn't that the Great House was so amazing-a simple two story house-but the windows seemed like angry eyes that glared down on her and the wraparound porch seemed somehow manacing. Clove glanced around to see if any of her camp mates got the same feeling, but if they did, they did a pretty good job of hiding it. Just then, from inside the house, Clove heard a _clip clop, clip clop_ sound that seemed to come from inside the great house. She frowned. The house was so big, they could _probably_ fit a horse in there, but she couldn't see why anyone would want to. She turned to Clarisse. "What's that sound?" she asked quietly. Clarisse grinned. "That's Chiron," she replied. Clove was just opening her mouth to ask if their camp leader was a horse when a man came to the door. Well…kind of a man. Clove just had time to make out a man's form connected to a horse's lower body before the light seemed to darken and she fainted.

…

When Clove came to, she found herself on a couch in a room. Rue and Cato were nervously sitting at the edges of the couch, Katniss was yelling at Annabeth, Johanna and Thresh were glowering at Piper, who was biting her lip and looking scared, Finch had her hands on her hips and was glaring at two boys with curly brown hair who raised their hands as if to proclaim innocence, and Percy was speaking softly to the horse man that Clove assumed was Chiron.

"Clove, you're awake!" Rue exclaimed happily. "Prim, she's up!"

Prim rushed over from across the room. "Oh, thank the gods!" she exclaimed. "Clove, how do you feel?"

Clove put a hand to her head and grunted. "Is the room spinning in circles or is it me?"

Prim exchanged worried glances with Cato and Rue. Clove shook her head. "Never mind, I'll get over it," she said, swinging her legs off the couch and standing up.

"Uh, I'm not sure that's such a great…", Prim warned too late as Clove's legs gave out and she grasped Cato's shoulder for balance.

"Woah," Clove muttered. "Great. Just great." She looked around the room. "What's going on? What happened?"

"Well…" Cato began, but was interrupted by Rue, who replied, "When we got here, you just kind of passed out, and we were all really worried about you, and Chiron told us to come in, so Cato carried you in here, and then they gave you this…lemon bar stuff that they called…amosia?" She glanced at Prim.

"Ambrosia," Prim corrected her.

"Yeah, that," Rue agreed. "Anyway, they gave you some ambrosia, but it took kind of a really long time to work on you…you've been out for thirty minutes." She gestured around them. "That's why everyone's yelling. Katniss thinks that the ambrosia killed you, and Johanna and Thresh are pissed at Piper cause she tried to..." she glanced at Prim uncertainly "…charmspeak them into calming down, except for her charmspeak doesn't work on them, so now Piper's miffed too, but…oh no!" Rue exclaimed as Johanna swung a punch toward Piper. Piper reached for her dagger a split second after Johanna's fist made contact with her nose.

Annabeth rushed over. "Guys, chill," she said, sounding oddly calm considering the situation. "See? Clove's awake. Piper, there's no need to charmspeak them anymore."

Piper bristled. "Oh, so this is all _my_ fault?" she asked incredulously. "She's the one who..." she trailed off as Annabeth flashed her a look that said, _drop it._ "We'll sort our differences out later, but now that Clove's up, we need to discuss everything that's happened since you guys got here."

Johanna rolled her neck. "Like whether or not you want to kick us out of the camp?"

"Among other things," Annabeth admitted.

Katniss began to protest, but Peeta placed a hand on her shoulder. "Sounds great," he said.

"Yeah," agreed Cato with a smirk. "Let's here what the horse guy has to say."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

 **Annabeth's POV**

The tension is so thick it's hard not to choke on as we sit around the ping pong tables. Usually these meetings are casual affairs with crackers and cheese whiz, but not today. Katniss and Peeta speak in hushed tones and Will explains the meeting procedures to Prim as Clove sits next to Cato and Johanna, fiddling oh-so -casually with a knife. Chiron seats himself at the head of the table, rolling up in his wheelchair. "So," he says, "I trust you all know what we're here to discuss?"

"Sure," says Johanna boredly. "Whether or not we get to stay at camp, duh."

"Indeed Johanna, that is one of the matters up for discussion. The other is the prophecy…when it will take place and who will go. But, I believe that first, we should settle the issue of your staying or not."

"Let's put it to a vote," I suggest. "Councilors only. Who votes to let the new recruits stay?"

Almost all of the councilor's hands go up, with the exception of Jason, and, when she sees that Jason's hand hasn't gone up, Piper's. I raise an eyebrow. "Well, the result is obvious. They're staying here," I say. "But out of curiosity, why did you vote against them, Jason?"

Jason shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "Well, it's just…I don't think it's a good idea. For the camp, I mean," he says. "I mean…a daughter of Gaea, whom we just got done fighting a war with, _and_ a daughter of Eris, who is well known as the goddess of curses and evil? It just seems a little risky."

"Hades is the god of death and the underworld, and you let me stay," Nico speaks up from the end of the table.

"Well, that's…" Jason begins, but Reyna interrupts him.

"Different! It's all _different,_ isn't it, Jason Grace? Because Hades is at least a _respectable_ god, one of the _right_ gods. But anyone who's unfortunate enough to be born to the wrong kind of god should be turned away at the entrance!"

Percy turns to Jason, eyes flashing. "Is that how you feel, Jason?" he asks challengingly.

"No! It's just…forget it," says Jason, deflating.

 _Smart move,_ I think. It's best to tread carefully once you set Percy off. I clear my throat. "Okay," I say. "So, about the quest. Who's going to lead it?"

"Well, wasn't there something about a girl with great foresight?" asks Piper. "That would probably involve the Apollo cabin."

"Yes it did, but only at the end, and it didn't exactly say anything about her being involved in the quest."

"The prophecy wasn't very clear about the questing part," says Travis.

"Are they ever?" mutters Percy.

I nudge him. "Well, it said the daughters of darkness and earth," I point out. "That's Rue and Clove, obviously." I turned to Rue and Clove, who didn't look thrilled with this new development.

"It also said 'the first quest to include thirteen,'" Cato added. "I guess quests don't usually include thirteen people, but it sounds like that's the head count this quest is going to have."

"You're right," I tell him. "Traditionally, quests only include three people. The more demigods in one place, the more monsters they attract. But that part was pretty clear. This quest will have thirteen demigods."

"But who's leading?" asks Johanna.

"Rue and Clove," I say confidently. I'm certain about this.

"What?" cries Clove, her eyes going wide. "That can't be right! I haven't even been here a full day! Until yesterday I didn't even know who my mom was! I don't know anything about camp, or quests, certainly not enough to lead one!"

"Same here," agrees Rue.

"Guys, it's okay," I assure them. "Most demigods feel overwhelmed at first, it's perfectly natural. But you'll have friends helping you on this quest, and you'll have even more than most. You have the option of picking the most experienced campers."

She's trying to hide it, but Clove still looks a lot like a deer in the headlights. "And who would those be?" she asks.

"The ideal choice is probably one of the seven," Connor advises her.

"The seven?" Cato asks.

"The seven kids who went on the last grand prophecy," Clarisse explains. Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Frank, Hazel, and Leo."

"I'm not going anywhere with him," Clove declares, pointing at Jason. "He'll throw us off a bride first chance he gets." I can't say I blame her for being skeptical of Jason. After all, he _has_ been the main guy encouraging us to kick them out of camp.

"And her," Prim says confidently, pointing at Reyna. "She's been on a lot of quests too. And she's the praetor of her camp."

Katniss gives her a strange look. "How did you know that, Prim?"

"Yeah, how did you?" I echo. I've never seen them speak.

Prim brushes her hair behind her ears. "I just…flashes and images. I was wondering about her, and they just came to me, telling me about all the things she's done. It was weird."

Will turns to her. "That could be a vision from Apollo," he says. He turns to Reyna. "I think you're meant to go on this quest."

Wheels are turning in my head, moving at a rapid pace, and a question starts to form in the back of my mind, but I decide to put it on the back burner for now-we have more pressing problems at hand. "Well, that still leaves the question…who's going to go on the quest?"

 **A/N: Omigosh guys, I'm sorry I haven't updated in forever! I was busy with school and a lot of other stuff, but now that it's summer, I'm going to try to finish this story, so…wish me luck! Hope you liked this chapter, R &R! **


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

 **Clove's POV**

So, now I learn that as well as being the daughter of the goddess of evil, I _also_ get to lead a quest I know nothing about at a camp where I know virtually no one. Wonderful! I looked Annabeth in the eyes. "I have no idea, Annabeth," I tell her. "Can we have some time to think on it?"

She shifts in her seat a little. "It's actually kind of important that we choose now," she replies. "If the quest comes up suddenly, we need to be able to send you off right away without the delay of choosing campers."

I roll my eyes a little and glance at Rue, whose eyes are flitting from one person at the table to another. I turn back to Annabeth. "Well, do you think Rue and I could at least go to somewhere a little more private to discuss who should go?" I request.

Annabeth glances towards Chiron, who has said surprisingly little in this whole exchange, and he nods briefly. She turns back to me and replies, "Yes, I believe that could be arranged."

She takes us up a flight of stairs and into a room with a bed in the center. Sunlight pours through a large window and there's a desk with a chair and a dresser, but everything is coated in a fine layer of dust, giving the appearance that the room hasn't been used in a while. "Here you go," says Annabeth, stopping in the doorway. "You can talk here." Rue and I step in, and Annabeth turns to leave, but then stops and throws a grin over her shoulder. "And remember that every camper here is a friend to you—we've all been in your shoes at some point." With that, Annabeth exits the room, leaving Rue and I alone.

I sit down on the bed immediately, and Rue seats herself next to me. "So, who do you want for the quest?" I ask her.

"Well, Will said he thought Reyna was meant to come on the quest with us, and she seems like a good type, defending us every time Jason tries to suggest we be thrown out of camp," she starts.

"Definitely," I reply, remembering my spying episode in the bushes.

"And Annabeth," adds Rue. "She's been really good to us since we got here, and she seems like she genuinely likes and wants to help us. She seems trustworthy."

"Yeah, I trust her," I say. Annabeth seems like a good nut to me—and smart too.

"But after that it gets really confusing. I mean, our friends are good because I trust them, but the campers have so much more experience," Rue says.

"Maybe we should start by listing the people we _don't_ want to come with us," I suggest.

Rue nods. "That sounds like a good idea."

"Well, not that Jason guy, for starters," I say.

"Definitely not him," Rue agrees. "He'd find some way to get both of us killed, if not all."

"And not his girlfriend Piper either," I add. "She'll follow him anywhere, and she goes along with whatever he says. Did you see how her hand went down when he voted against us today?"

Rue nods. "We can't trust her, either," she agrees. "Prim heard from Will that she's got charmspeak, which means that she can make us do whatever she wants. And if she's influenced by Jason…"

"Yeah," I agree. "Not a good choice."

"Speaking of Prim," Rue says, "what about her? She's my best friend, and she'll be mad if I don't choose her."

"Yeah, but Katniss probably won't let her go," I point out. "She's really protective of Prim, and if something happened to her…"

"Arrow through the heart for both of us," Rue agrees. "Also, I think she's the girl with great foresight at the end of the prophecy, and if she's supposed to 'bring us all back into light', it's probably better she stays safe at the camp."

"Wait, why do you think that?" I ask. "The part about her being the girl at the end of the prophecy."

"Call it a hunch."

"Okay…well, now onto who we _want._ I think Cato should come."

Rue grins. "Of course you do. But I agree. He's a good fighter and we can trust him."

"Alright. Now for the harder part. Katniss…yay or nay?"

"Yay! She's totally trustworthy, and besides, as the daughter of Artemis, she'll probably be good in a fight."

I roll my eyes. Even though we're all supposed to be friends now, I'm still not the biggest fan of the girl on fire. Call it a leftover from the arena.

"Lover boy, yay or nay?"

Rue makes a face. "I mean, I know that Katniss trusts him and all, and he seems nice, but…who's his mom again?"

"Demeter. Goddess of breakfast cereal…and plants. Doesn't seem particularly useful."

"I hate having to measure our friends by battle value, but…there it is."

"So, Johanna…yay or nay?"

"Well, we do know her…she's probably safe. And she's good with weapons."

"Finch?"

"Well, she's pretty sneaky, and clever," Rue replied. "Wonder how she is with weapons?"

"I'm not sure that would matter so much. Finch could be really useful…she could sneak around and do spy work for us," I point out.

Rue nods. "Okay, so Finch."

"What about that Percy guy? Annabeth's boyfriend. I know we don't know him, but the campers really seem to respect him."

"Yeah, we haven't hardly been here a full day and I've already heard his name about 100 times just in passing," I agree. "But is he trustworthy at all?"

"He's the son of Poseidon. Will told Prim that there are three gods that are more powerful then the others: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Percy's the son of Poseidon, which means he's probably pretty powerful. And…the campers wouldn't love him so much if he was some backstabbing beast."

"Okaaay," I say, dragging the word out skeptically.

…

The end list is myself and Rue as well as Katniss, Finch, Thresh, Johanna, Johanna's buddy Finnick, Rue's new friend Nico, Percy, Annabeth, Cato, Reyna, and Hazel.

We get back to the table and report our choices to the full group. No one offers much opposition, although Clarisse is a little miffed that I didn't pick her. I make a mental note to sleep with one eye open. After that's settled, I shift in my seat.

"So, when does it start?" I ask.

"Well, the prophecy says 'when the north moon glows green,'" replies Annabeth, "so…we'll see."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

Katniss's POV

On the way out of the Big House, I approach Annabeth. "So, what kind of sign do we need to be looking for as to when the quest starts?" I ask.

She shrugs. "They vary," she replies. "There's no sure way to know—sometimes there's a deadline that sets us on a rush schedule, but other times we can wait for years before a quest is fulfilled."

"Wait," I say, "you mean that, theoretically, this quest might not even happen in our lifetimes? It's possible that none of us are going on this quest at all?"

"Well, given the wording of the prophecy, it's not likely that _none_ of you will end up going on the quest," Annabeth answers. "Clove and Rue are probably the leaders, so odds are, all of us will end up going. The prophecy did mention 'setting sail when the north moon glows green', but no one really has any idea what that means."

"Do people die on quests?" I ask.

"It happens," Annabeth admits. "But my guess is that you'll survive. You're the daughter of Artemis. We've never seen one before—typically, Artemis isn't supposed to have children. But, you're probably a pretty good hunter, right?"

"I like to think so," I reply. Then I ask her a question that's been nagging at me since we got to camp. "Hey, my mother is Artemis, which means the woman I grew up thinking was my mother actually isn't. But Prim's father is Apollo, so he'd have been with our mother, which means…technically, Prim and I wouldn't be related at all."

"That's a really complicated subject," Annabeth begins. "I mane, Apollo and Artemis are brother and sister, so if you think about it one way, you're cousins anyway…of course, the gods don't have DNA, so it wouldn't really count…just think of it this way. Prim is still as much of your sister as she was before you found out about your actual parentage. You love Prim because of who she is, not because you're related to her. Just remember that."

I nod. "Thanks, Annabeth," I say to her. "I needed that."

Prim's POV

"No," is my only word for Rue when she walks up to me after the meeting.

"Prim, let me explain," she begs, catching up to me as I try to walk away from her.

"Rue, I don't really have anything say to you right now. You barely know half of those people on the questing list you made, but I'm not on it?"

"Prim, we just figured Katniss would never let you go, and"-

"So what? I can handle Katniss!"

"And…people die on quests. I didn't want to risk that, you're my best friend."

"Okay, but you're going, Clove's going, you put a lot of people on that list, and none of them are expendable. If you thought it was certain death, you'd refuse."

"It's not certainty that someone will die, bt if they do, I don't want it to be you. plus, you might be that girl in the prophecy. The one with great foresight, who bring us all back into light!"

"And how the heck am I supposed to do that from the camp?!"

"You sure can't do it from underground! Look, all I'm saying is, you're the backup plan. If our quest fails, it's up to _you._ and I just figured, it might be a little easier if you weren't part of that failed quest."

Rue's eyes were wild, and saw how frightened she really was that quest _would_ fail, that one of our friends would die. I wrapped an arm around her in a hug. "Hey, you won't fail. You'll do great, I won't even be necessary. And besides, we don't know for sure that I'm the girl anyway."

Rue nodded. "Yeah, Nico said not to jump to conclusions. Apparently it took Percy a while do decipher his first prophecy, too."

I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, Nico. He's the guy who got you out of the woods yesterday, right?"

"Was that yesterday? Feels like forever ago."

"I know. But anyway, what's up with you guys?"

Rue gives me a side glance. "Nothing, really. I mean, he's my friend."

"Mmm."

"Not like that!" Rue flushed. "Look, we must have been in there for a while," she says, pointing at the rapidly darkening sky.

I check my watch. "That's weird," I reply. "It's only 3:00."

Just then, Nico comes up. He nods at me and nudges Rue with his shoulder, pointing at a different spot in the sky…a green spot. I see realization flash in Rue's eyes. "The…the north moon?" she asks him.

He shrugs. "Annabeth thinks so."

"Wait…does that mean…?" I stutter. I hadn't expected it to start so soon, but there's no fear in her eyes when Rue turns to me and says, "I think so. The prophecy is coming true."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

 **Rue's POV**

I look over toward Nico. "Should we go talk to Annaeth, then?" I ask.

Nico gives a wry smile. "I think more people will be coming to you and Clove."

"What? Why?"

"Because you guys are the quest leaders," Prim puts in from my other side.

"But we don't know what's going on, or how to do this," I protest. "Annabeth's been on tons of quests, or…what about Percy? Everyone here talks about him like he's a god himself!"

"Yeah, but this is your quest," Nico says. We come up on the cabins. "Come on," Nico says, heading for the Hades cabin, "we've gotta go."

"Yeah," I agree, glancing at Prim, who looks slightly put out. "Give me a second, I'll be right there."

"Alright, I'll go tell my sister she's on the quest," Nico replies and starts towards the cabin. I turn to Prim, who's biting her lip to keep it from trembling.

"I thought there'd be more time," she says.

"Hey, there will be. People go on quest all the time. They leave, they come back, they come back, they resume life as usual. It probably won't even that long," I tell her. "Plus, I've got experience, powerful people on my team. We'll be fine."

Prim manages a smile. "Yeah, Nico does seem to care about you."

I give her a confused look, then roll my eyes. "Whatever, Prim." I hug her. "I'll see you when we get back."

Then I head toward the Hades cavin, leaving Prim to say goodbye to Katniss and the others. Hazel greets by pointing to a duffel bag on my bed. "Hey, I know that you don't have many everyday clothes, so I lent you some of mine. Just throw in some toiletries and meet us outside by the forest."

Hazel picks up her own duffel, which is bedazzled with diamonds, rubies, and other precious stones, and exits with a kind smile. Nico is dumping his possessions unceremoniously into a black duffel bag. I can't help raising my eyebrows as I grab my toothbrush from the bathroom. "Is everything you own black?" I question as he dumps black item after black item into the bag.

"Mostly," Nico admits, placing two pairs of black socks in. I shake my head. "Unbelievable." I slip on my brown jacket from the arena and zip my duffel bag. "Ok. Let's go."

 **Reyna's POV**

When everyone is assembled by the trees we look around, unsure of what to do next.

"Okay, so does anyone actually have any idea where we're going, or what we're doing, exactly?" the son of Ares, Cato, speaks up.

Annabeth refers to a small spiral notebook she's holding. "Well, the prophecy says we need to bring the darkness to the Olympians hearth."

"Any idea what darkness It's talking about?" Clove questions.

""Wait, why would we _want_ to bring darkness to Olympus?" Johanna wants to know. "Isn't darkness a bad thing?"

"Maybe the Olympians are better equipped to handle it," Finnick suggested.

"But what darkness is the prophecy talking about?" Hazel asked.

Everyone is silent, until I feel obligated to contribute. "Clove knows," I whisper quietly, almost hoping no one hears me, but they do. All eyes turn to me, then flit over to Clove, whose expression is identical to that of a deer in the headlights. But she swallows and gives me a measured look. "That night, when Eris came…after Rue cracked the earth, when you were all distracted by Gaea…Eris gave me her darkness. I don't know if it was all of it, or just a little, but she…forced it on me, really. I didn't have a choice.

Everyone gazes at her for a moment longer, but then Annabeth clears her throat. "Well, does anyone know what the line about the Olympians hearth means?"

Percy pipes up, "It could mean something about Hestia." At the confused looks from the new kids, "She's the Greek goddess of the hearth."

Annabeth studies him. "That's not a bad idea, Percy. So, to the Empire State Building?"

"New York City," he confirms.

"I'm sorry, am I missing something?" Clove interrupts. "What does the Empire State Building have to do with Olympus?"

"It's the modern location of the gods," Annabeth explains. Clove still looks slightly confused but doesn't press further, and Annabeth takes stock of the new kids. "We need to get you guys armed."

Clove gives her a shark smile. "Um, Blondie?" she holds open her jacket, revealing row upon row of glittering silver knives. "We're already armed."

Annabeth turns, narrowing her eyes and smiling dangerously. "Not that way."

 **Finch's POV**

"Currently, you guys have regular weapons—good for injuring mortals, but basically useless against a monster. You'll need Celestial Bronze blades—they kill monsters, but are harmless to mortals."

"But what if we need to harm a mortal?" asked Johanna.

"Then you hit them," Annabeth replied without breaking stride. Finch allowed herself a small smile from the shadow, but Johanna spotted her. "What are you grinning about, Ginger?" she whispered, but her tone was playful. The group stopped outside a toolshed looking place.

"Okay guys, we're on a time limit here, so try to get in and get out as quickly as you can," Annabeth commanded as she opened the door and flicked the light switch. For a minute the teens just stared…they'd never seen so many weapons in one place, not even in the Cornucopia during the games. But soon, they all shook themselves and entered. Finch noted Clove stocking up on Celestial Bronze throwing knives, Johanna flipping two handguns and strapping a bronze ax across her back, ad Katniss studying an assortment of arrows. But she herself was drawn to a pair of slender bronze swords on the other side of the shed. She picked them up and twirled them. They were wonderfully lightweight, but the blades looked deadly. Finch smiled as she sent them sailing through the air on a few practice swings.

Annabeth approached her quietly. "That's a pretty dangerous way of fighting," she commented. "In the same movement you use to cut your enemies head off, you could also slice own arm open."

"I like them," Finch said, studying the blades.

"They're suited to you," Annabeth agreed, handing her a leather back strap. "They have a Latin name—Remittere. Cutthroat."

Finch grinned. "I like it."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

Clove's POV

Once I'd finally restocked on knives and everyone else was suitably armed, Annabeth lead us from the weapon shed back to the edge of the forest, and then singled out me and Rue. "Come to the front, you guys," she called. I wanted to slink down and melt into the ground, but Cato gave me a reassuring smile and I threw my shoulders back and tilted my chin up as I made my way to the front of the group along with Rue.

"So, what's the game plan?" Annabeth asked. It struck me as ironic that she, who had obviously had so much more experience with this stuff, was asking _me_ what my plan for the quest was, but I exchanged a glance with Rue and knew that I had to seem certain, so I turned to her and confidently declared, "Well, the prophecy said to bring the darkness to the Olympians hearth, so that's what we're going to do…we'll try and make our way to the empire state building and then…I'll see how it goes from there."

"Yep," Rue agreed. "That's pretty much it." She turned to Annabeth. "Aren't we pretty close to Manhattan already? We could just catch a bus or something."

Percy shook his head. "Public transportation is never a great idea," he said. "Buses and taxis are playhouses for monsters. If we get on a bus, odds are the driver or the person sitting in the seat in front of us is a monster."

"Or both," Annabeth agrees.

"So, we're hoofing it?" Johanna asked, sounding less then pleased.

"'Fraid so," replied Annabeth.

"Well…what's the fastest route to the Empire State building from camp?" I asked Annabeth.

She shrugged. "I've got a fair sense of direction," she said. "We'll figure it as we go."

 _That_ wasn't necessarily reassuring, but I didn't have acess to a map, so I just exchanged another wary glance with Rue and followed Annabeth out of camp by the glow of the green moon.

Rue's POV

I was anxious, and it was showing in the ground and plants around us. The trees and grass all blew toward me, and the ground was trembling slightly. Nico approached quietly and put a hand on my shoulder. "Rue, you've gotta cut it out," he muttered. "Your powers are putting out a signal so strong, every monster within 100 miles can probably feel it."

"I can't help it," I whisper back. "I'm nervous…what if our quest fails? What if the gods won't listen to me because I'm the daughter of Gaea? What if I can't fight monsters right? I didn't get much in that shed, you know. Just celestial bronze ammo for my slingshot, which basically amounts to Celestial bronze rocks. That's not helpful. That's pathetic! What if"-

Nico grabbed my sleeve. "Shush."

I give him a sharp look. "What?"

But he's not looking at me, he's scanning the landscape around us—a green field of grass and a few trees that appears to be in essentially the middle of nowhere—there are no streets, signs, or houses—but everything has gone completely still. The more experienced veteran demigods are tense—Percy has his hand in his pocket and it strikes me as odd that he doesn't appear to have a weapon on him. I've heard about his legendary water powers as a son of Poseidon, but I've also heard that the use of demigods' powers tends to be draining, and what if he's in an area with no water…like a field of grass and trees in the middle of nowhere, for instance? I reach for the slingshot in my coat pocket. This isn't good. I can tell. We've all halted progress, and just when I'm beginning to wonder if anything is actually going to happen after all, Nico shoves me behind him as the ground ahead of us explodes.

Hazel's POV

Hazel drew her spatha as the field around her exploded in pieces of grass and dirt, and she wrinkled her nose as she recognized their assailants… _karpoi._ After her experience with the evil grain spirits on the way to Alaska, Hazel would have been _more_ than content not to lay eyes on one ever again. But alas…here they were.

"What do you want?" she growled.

One of the karpoi shook himself off, then pointed an accusative finger at Rue. "We don't want to be here. _She_ called us!"

Rue, still seeming dazed, stepped out from behind Nico. " _Excuse me?"_

Clove flipped the knife in her hand. "Rue didn't summon _anybody,_ " she said, then, studying the karpoi, amended, "Or any _thing."_

"She did," another karpos insisted. "One minute, we were relaxing in all of our respective fields….I in _wheat,_ of course…and the next second, the ground beneath us trembled, and…we were called."

Annabeth glanced back at Rue, then back to the grain spirits. "Um…well, whatever Rue did, she clearly didn't mean to, so if you could all just go back to where you came from…"

Wheat bristled indignantly. "Only the earth daughter commands us, child of Athena!" he exclaimed.

Annabeth exchanged a hopeless glance with Percy, and was about to turn back to Rue when Finch spoke up:

"What's that?"

A/N: Ok, I'm pretty much irredeemable at this point, I'm SO sorry, I'd pretty much given up on this story, but then one day I went into my email and saw that people were still reading and following it, and since it's summer and I don't have as much going on, I decided I'd come back to it! So thanks so much to those of you who review….you're literally the reason for this story still being alive


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